Incompemancy
AKA Braggarts You're a god among men. You don't need to spend your time doing silly things like "improving" your skills- you're the shit, and everyone else is just jealous of your insane skill. You've got natural talent out the ass, and those around you just bask in your glory. Some people are born with natural talent, and are good at everything. Because of their skill, however, these people can tell that their work is not as good as it could be and are therefore critical of themselves. These people are not Incompemancers. Incompemancers are the opposite: those who have laughable skills in nearly every area but supreme self-confidence. It's the guy who's crashed every car he owns but insits he's a fantastic driver, the investment broker who's lost every penny but believes he's the cream of the crop, the President who leaves office with a single-digit approval rating but insists history will vindicate him. Those are the people who, when madness strikes, turn to themselves and become reality-bending narcissists. Incompemancy is said to have grown out of a unique cult of the Fool which experimented with Entropomancy and Plutomancy. The two main sects are located in Washington, DC and New York, and massive coordination between them is rumored to have caused the 2008 recession. Needless to say, Braggarts can blend very well in middle management positions and low-level government jobs. Braggarts spend that valuable "improvement" time that other morons spend upping skills honing their magickal craft- this ultimate control of the universe just being the icing on the cake that they are the freaking bee's knees. Major Incompemancers have started into the abyss: they have seen themselves for what they truly are, break their own self-image, and, in realizing that they are not good at anything and paying a terrible toll, gain ultimate power over reality. The central paradox of Incompemancy is that its adherents are not really good at anything- in fact, they are at best mediocre- yet they believe themselves to be exceptional. Blast: Incompemancy has no blast. Stats Generate a Minor Charge Brag about something you never did, and convince at least one person. Generate a Significant Charge Take at least partial credit for a success you had no part in, and convince at least twenty people. You have to convince them simultaneously. You can get two charges this way if you take sole credit. Generate a Major Charge Take sole credit for a success affecting at least one thousand people... which you not only never had a part in, but actively prevented from actually ever happening. Taboo Skills other than Magick: Incompemancy may not go above 40%. Spending points to raise a skill above 40% immediately breaks taboo, although possessing a skill above 40% does not prevent new charges from being taken. The skill increase caused by rolling a match or a critical on a major check does break taboo if it causes a skill to go above 40%. Random Magick Domain Ability. Incompemancy is powerful for affecting any kind of competition or skill-based domain. It can turn a fight from a nasty defeat to a routing victory- but it's nearly useless for cheating at poker or any other luck-based domain. Minor Formula Spells Blame the Tool- 1 minor charge This spell affects an object. The next time that object is used (or immediately, if the object is currently being used), the object breaks- a gun jams, a computer disconnects at a vital moment, a cell phone loses signal, as if the user had rolled a matched failure. The target of this spell must be sufficiently complex to mysteriously stop working- most people can tell how a kitchen knife works, so this spell wouldn't affect it. A switchblade, however, can suddenly jam. I'm Just That Good- 1-2 minor charges The next non-magickal significant or major skill roll that succeeds is counted as x% higher (it still counts as a success, even if it would normally go over the skill), where x is the total of the dice on your Magick: Incompemancy roll. The targeted roll cannot be flip-floped. If you pay one extra minor charge, you can cast this spell immediatly after you roll the skill, without taking an action. Example: Joe the Incompemancer (Magick: Incompetomancy 40%, Struggle 30%) sees a thug coming at him. Both of them are unarmed. He takes a round to cast I'm Just That Good, rolling a 35. When he attempts to hit the thug, he rolls 26 while the thug rolls 31. Because of the spell's effect, Joe's 26 becomes 34 (26+3+5=34, winning the roll.) He deals 7 damage to the thug. Bushwhack- 3 minor charges This spell causes the target to suddenly become embarrassingly inarticulate. For a number of minutes equal to the tens place on the roll, the target of this spell forgets words, screws up basic grammar, makes up bizarre malapropisms, and in general just makes conversations very awkward and expressing complex concepts basically impossible. Depending on the conversation the target was having, this can trigger Helplessness checks. A Bad Day- 4 minor charges This is good for showing people up. The next strictly mundane skill roll the target makes is penalised by 10 times the tens digit of the casting roll - for example, rolling a 42 to cast would impose a -40 shift on the roll. If some bizarre plan requires that you cast this on yourself, you are indeed a valid target. Significant Formula Spells Useless, Useless- 1 significant charge A more powerful version of Blame the Tool, Useless, Useless affects magick artifacts. For an additional significant charge, the incompemancer can remove a number of charges from a minor artifact equal to the ones place on the die roll. For two additional significant charges, a total of four, he can do the same to a significant artifact. Best in the Business- 1 significant charge On a successful cast, this spell allows an Incompemancer to substitute their Incompemancy skill - including the obsession bonus - for any other skill, for one Major check only. As Incompemancy specifically governs skill, Best in the Business can be cast as a reaction to a failed roll, granting its benefits to that skill roll. It Was All Me- 2 significant charges Cast this while collaborating with someone else on a task requiring at least significant skill checks. If you then successfully take sole credit for the task, the skill you had to roll will rise to equal the level at which your collaborator has it until the truth is revealed to everyone you convinced. This can and frequently does cause casters to break taboo - buyer beware. On a Roll- 3 significant charges The roll for this spell is treated as a permanent Hunch for the next twenty-four hours, with all mundane skills being resolved against it. This hunch is compared to the relevant skill, not Magick: Incompemancy, unless Best in the Business is also cast. Major Effects Cause a specific entity to fail spectacularly. Permanently steal someone else's skills and stats and add them to your own. Make a boast become the truth. Category:Magick Category:Adepts